Parallel Bible results for "exodus 18"

Exodus 18

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 Now news came to Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, of all God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and how the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.

2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away,

3 And her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom, for he said, I have been living in a strange land:

4 And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, The God of my father was my help, and kept me safe from the sword of Pharaoh:

5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to where Moses had put up his tent in the waste land, by the mountain of God.

6 And he said to Moses, I, your father-in-law, have come to you, with your wife and your two sons.

7 And Moses went out to his father-in-law, and went down on his face before him and gave him a kiss; and they said to one another, Are you well? and they came into the tent.

8 And Moses gave his father-in-law an account of all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians because of Israel, and of all the troubles which had come on them by the way, and how the Lord had given them salvation.

9 And Jethro was glad because the Lord had been good to Israel, freeing them from the power of the Egyptians.

10 And Jethro said, Praise be to the Lord, who has taken you out of the hand of Pharaoh and out of the hand of the Egyptians; freeing the people from the yoke of the Egyptians.

11 Now I am certain that the Lord is greater than all gods, for he has overcome them in their pride.

12 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, made a burned offering to God: and Aaron came, with the chiefs of Israel, and had a meal with Moses' father-in-law, before God.

13 Now on the day after, Moses took his seat to give decisions for the people: and the people were waiting before Moses from morning till evening.

14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing, he said, What is this you are doing for the people? why are you seated here by yourself, with all the people waiting before you from morning till evening?

15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to get directions from God:

16 And if they have any question between themselves, they come to me, and I am judge between a man and his neighbour, and I give them the orders and laws of God.

17 And Moses' father-in-law said to him, What you are doing is not good.

18 Your strength and that of the people will be completely used up: this work is more than you are able to do by yourself.

19 Give ear now to my suggestion, and may God be with you: you are to be the people's representative before God, taking their causes to him:

20 Teaching them his rules and his laws, guiding them in the way they have to go, and making clear to them the work they have to do.

21 But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

22 And let them be judges in the causes of the people at all times: and let them put before you all important questions, but in small things let them give decisions themselves: in this way, it will be less hard for you, and they will take the weight off you.

23 If you do this, and God gives approval, then you will be able to go on without weariness, and all this people will go to their tents in peace.

24 So Moses took note of the words of his father-in-law, and did as he had said.

25 And he made selection of able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens.

26 And they were judges in the causes of the people at all times: the hard questions they put before Moses; but on every small point they gave decisions themselves.

27 And Moses let his father-in-law go away, and he went back to his land.

Good News Translation GNT

1 Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when he led them out of Egypt.

2 So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses' wife Zipporah, who had been left behind,

3 and Gershom and Eliezer, her two sons. (Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a strange land"; so he had named one son Gershom.

4 He had also said, "The God of my father helped me and saved me from being killed by the king of Egypt"; so he had named the other son Eliezer. )

5 Jethro came with Moses' wife and her two sons into the desert where Moses was camped at the holy mountain.

6 He had sent word to Moses that they were coming,

7 so Moses went out to meet him, bowed before him, and kissed him. They asked about each other's health and then went into Moses' tent.

8 Moses told Jethro everything that the Lord had done to the king and the people of Egypt in order to rescue the Israelites. He also told him about the hardships the people had faced on the way and how the Lord had saved them.

9 When Jethro heard all this, he was happy

10 and said, "Praise the Lord, who saved you from the king and the people of Egypt! Praise the Lord, who saved his people from slavery!

11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, because he did this when the Egyptians treated the Israelites with such contempt."

12 Then Jethro brought an offering to be burned whole and other sacrifices to be offered to God; and Aaron and all the leaders of Israel went with him to eat the sacred meal as an act of worship.

13 The next day Moses was settling disputes among the people, and he was kept busy from morning till night.

14 When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, "What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?"

15 Moses answered, "I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will.

16 When two people have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide which one of them is right, and I tell them God's commands and laws."

17 Then Jethro said, "You are not doing this right.

18 You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone.

19 Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him.

20 You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do.

21 But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed.

22 Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden.

23 If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out, and all these people can go home with their disputes settled."

24 Moses took Jethro's advice

25 and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

26 They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.

27 Then Moses said good-bye to Jethro, and Jethro went back home.